Monica Bonvicini: I do You

About

For the upper hall, the exhibition I Do You propos-es new, site-specific architectural installations, sculptural objects, performative and sound works, as well as a selection of well-known pieces from her internationally renowned oeuvre. The show offers a completely new perception of the space, which can be experienced in the interplay of seeing, hearing, and direct physical interaction with some works.  

As early as 1998, with the sculpture 2 Tonnen Alte Nationalgalerie, Bonvicini dealt with the massive urban reconstruction process that was taking place in Berlin at the time. Many of the conversions served not only to repair and renew but also to engage with the political history of the growing metropolis. More than twenty years later, she deals with the iconic building of the Neue Nationalgalerie.

Exploring the Hidden Mechanisms of Western "Modernity".

Bonvicini explores the hidden mechanisms of Western modernity, its sexual charges as well as the exaggerations and mythifications that accompany them. The gender relations and social orders that are firmly inscribed in the architecture and the museum are exposed, unmasked, and destabilized by the artist in an ironic and playful way. Bonvicini's sculptures are to be understood here as invitations to enter new spaces of experience, starting from a critical approach to institutions.

Transformation through Radical Feminist Vandalism

With her exhibition I do You, Bonvicini essentially alters Mies van der Rohe's modernist architecture through the radical feminist vandalism typical of her striking artistic interventions. The interplay with performative actions and sculptural works results in a multi-layered narrative that challenges us to question outdated categories and to investigate further some overlooked aspects of the museum. Bonvicini makes the building and thereby the public space the negotiating level of the private: How do we deal with each other in space, what structures and power relations are inscribed in the floor, the walls, or the transparent glass façades? As is often the case in her interventions, the space of the Neue Nationalgalerie is fundamentally redefined; visual landscapes, soundscapes, reflections and refractions manifest in an ensemble of different noises. The surroundings transform into a multi-sensory dissonance, a disturbance that is both self-asserting and destabilizing.